Automobile-lamp cover.



No. 777,983. PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904.

H. S, TOMPKINS,

AUTOMOBILE LAMP COVER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2'7, 1904.

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No. 777,983.. PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904. H. s. TOMPKINS.

AUTOMOBILE LAMP COVER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1904.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WWI, fill WITNESSES: INVENTOR UNITED STATES Patented December 20, 1904.

HARRY S. TOMPKINS, OF NEWARK, NE'W JERSEY.

AUTOMOBILE-LAMP COVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,983, dated December 20, 1904. Application filed January 27, 1904. Serial No. 190,790.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it .known that I, HARRY S. TOMPKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile-Lamp Covers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The objects of this invention are to provide a cover for the side lights of an automobile; to secure such a cover which will neatly and closely fit the lamp, so as to adequately protect the same; to provide for this purpose an improved construction and one which can be practically and economically manufactured; to prevent the cover from drawing or slipping up on the lamp when being secured in place, and to obtain other advantages and results, some of which may be hereinafter referred to in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved automobile-side-light cover and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures, Figure 1 shows the blank from which the body portion of my improved cover is formed. Figs. 2 and 3 represent the blanks employed to form the bottom flaps of the cover. Fig. 4 is a front view of a complete cover of my improved construction. Fig. 5 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 6 is a reverse plan.

In said drawings, 1 indicates the blank from which the body of my improved cover is formed, such blank being preferably in one piece, although when desired it may be cut in several pieces and joined in bringing the different parts together to form the complete body. Said blank 1 comprises front and back portions 2 3, alternating with side portions 4 5, one of which is slit, as at 6, to enable the cover to be applied to a lamp, as will be more fully understood upon reference to Fig. 5. The said portions 2, 3, 4, and 5 are arranged side by side, the blank being preferably joined along their middle, as above stated, and each has its lower end below said median line of joining tapered somewhat, as at 21 31 41 51, respectively. The upper ends of the side portions 4 5 are also tapered to a point, as at 42 52; but the front and back portions 2 3 are at their upper ends widened, as at 22 32, respectively, and preferably provided each with a rounded top edge 23 (33). In forming the cover, therefore, the tops 22 and 32 of the front and back portions 2 3 are brought together and joined at their said edges 23 33, as will be understood upon reference to Figs. 4 and 5, while the pointed parts 42 52 of the side portions 4 5 serve to fill in between the lower diverging margins 24 34 and 25 35 of said edges. The lower tapering portions 21 31 41 51 of all the portions are sewed or otherwise fastened directly together at their edges 7 7.

By the construction thus described I secure in the top of the body of my cover a wedgeshaped taper toward the front and back which readily accommodates the top of the lamp, while the sides 4 5 provide such divergence of the front and back at their lower parts as will receive the body of the lamp. A neat-looking appearance is thus secured with a minimum amount of material.

The opposite edges of the slit 6 are provided with a buckle and strap 8 9 of any ordinary construction to enable the cover to be drawn tightly abo ut the lamp. To prevent the cover sliding or being drawn up by the action of said strap 8 in closing, so as to expose the lower portion of the lamp, I have provided upon my cover certain bottom flaps 10, which I will next proceed to describe. These bottom flaps are each semicircular in shape, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and they are secured oppositely in the lower end or mouth of the body portion of the cover when the latter has been formed. Each flap is started at one end of its curved edge 101, close to the slit 6, and continued around the mouth of the cover until it meets the other flap. It will thus be understood that each flap is secured to the body portion along a curved or bent line, whereby the flap is not simply hinged to the body portion, butto a certain extent positively supported in a plane transverse to the body portion. Obviously if these flaps were attached to the body portion at simply a single point or along a straight line there would be nothing therein to hold them upward against the body of the lamp; but by my construction each flap has a curved edge which is secured at a plurality of points to the correspondingly-shaped edge of the mouth of the body portion, and herice the flap is stretched across said mouth with straight lines between its point of support forming chords of the said month. When the cover is buckled upon the lamp, said flaps 10 thus lie in a plane at right angles to the body portion of the cover, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, and project inward along the bottom of the lamp and hook over the same. The, said flaps 10 overlap at their straight edges 102, and thus completely and positively protect the lamp from mud splashed upward, which is 'very desirable in automobiles, since the lamps are hung so near the ground. Furthermore, said flaps prevent any possibility of the cover sliding up on the lamp as it is buckled in place.

The seams of my improved cover may be formed in any suitable and well-known manner common to the art, preferably by sewing and vuleanizing, it being understood that the present invention relates to the structural parts. Likewise any desired material may be employed.

Obviously various detail modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the spirit and scopeof the same as set forth in the claimsas, for instance, in cutting the blank the lines may be either straightened or curved more or less than shown, so long as the general formation is preserved. I do not, therefore, wish to be understood as limiting myself by positive descriptive terms employed, except as the state of the art may require.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. An automobile-side-light cover,compris ing front and back portions, each having a laterally widened or flaring upper end, and side pieces alternating with said front and back portions and having narrowed or tapering upper ends, all said portions being joined at their adjacent margins.

2. An automobile-side-light eover,comprising front and back portions, each having a widened upper end with a rounded top edge arranged to be joined to the other, and side pieces alternating with said front and back portions and having pointed tops, all said parts being narrowed at their lower ends.

3. In a lamp-cover having a substantially cylindrical body portion with an open lower end or mouth, bottom flaps each having an edge curved in conformity to a portion of the edge of the mouth of said body parts and joined continuously thereon, whereby the flap is supported in position extending partially across said mouth.

4. In a lamp-cover, the combination with a body portion having an open lower end or mouth, of bottom flaps adapted to lie in a plane at right angles to said body portion, each flap being secured to the edges of said month by a series of marginal points forming other than a straight line.

In a lamp-cover having a body portion with an open lower end or mouth and bottom flaps each having an edge joined to the edge of said mouth for a portion of the circumference thereof, said flaps being thereby held in position extending across said month.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of January, 1904.

HARRY S. TOMPKINS.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. PnLL, RUSSELL M. EVERETT. 

